Making Married Disciples...

﻿

We preach the gospel to large & small groups,

teaching you how to:﻿

﻿﻿Love God.

&

Love﻿your spouse.﻿

﻿ "Their teachings about the Biblical principles of marriage and open discussions helped us to get a better understanding of God's purpose for marriage, and our individual duties and responsibilities as a husband and wife. By applying these principles, not only have we become more spiritually connected, we have built an even stronger relationship in the process."﻿

-Brandon & Renee﻿﻿

I Don't Love My Husband

I don’t love my husband. At least, not in every way mentioned in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

After a recent conflict filled conversation with my groom, I retreated to my secret place to ask God “why am I so irritated with this man!?” The answer was swift and clear: although some of my expectations of him were accurate according to scripture…most of them were self-centered. In short, during our discussion, I was continually demanding my own way.

Grrrrrr……

Then, ever so sweetly, the Holy Spirit gently reminded me (again!) that the deepest, purest, holiest and most complete love is always available from my Father. And when I engage in an intimate relationship with Him, all my expectations are met.

The love chapter was declared at our wedding and I’ve read this passage hundreds of times. But today, fresh revelation breathed life into the words penned by Paul. The majority of this section of scripture talks not about what love is, but how we try to manufacture it by what we do. How many times have I been caught up in the vicious cycle of serving others, instead of loving my husband? How many times have I spoken in unknown languages, prophesied, had great faith and given to the poor, but not loved the man I pledged to love for richer and for poorer, whether or not he met all my expectations, or showed love in return? My noisy gongs and clanging cymbals are far too numerous to count.

Let’s be honest. It’s easier to do things for our friends, family, or those in the body of Christ to remove our feelings of guilt or to fulfill our deep desire to be loved, feel important, worthy or needed. It’s difficult however, to invest our time, talents and treasure into our second most important relationship on this earth; our marriage, because loving our spouse largely goes unnoticed by them or others, and we are rarely praised for our efforts. Yet, if we’ll just be still for a moment each day to know and be consumed by the One who is love, we’ll realize that it “is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.” Then, when we surrender to His will, the Spirit will produce fruit that will enable us to love our spouse without giving up, or losing faith, and we will always be hopeful as we endure every circumstance….’till death do us part.

I don’t want to love my husband like a selfish child. Instead, I want to put away childish speech, thoughts, and reasoning so that I can submit to my groom out of reverence for Christ.